the flower bed

In August I wrote about my Aunt and how she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. It was inoperable, and unfortunately it spread into her lymph nodes. Mum called me earlier to tell me that she was in the hospital, that she'd found a lump in her neck yesterday and two more this morning. While we were talking, Dad came home and said that Auntie Vi had died about half an hour earlier (10:00 p.m.) with her 3 kids and her 3 brothers with her. Most of her grandkids were able to see her recently, so she died as she lived, surrounded by loved ones.

Auntie Vi was the oldest of 4, with 3 younger brothers. She was predeceased by her husband, my Uncle Nick, and is survived by 1 son, 2 daughters, a daughter-in-law, 4 grandsons, 2 grandaughters, 3 brothers, 3 sisters-in-law, 2 special cousins and their families here in Canada as well as several more in Norway, and many nieces and nephews. She was a fun person, quick to laugh and her door was always open to company. She used to give my sister and me a cup of sugar and a stick of rhubarb to dip into it. We spent hours eating from her raspberry patch and "finding" little dishes of candy that always seemed to be full.

In honour of Auntie Vi, I'm replacing my usual lily with a viola.

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God bless you, Auntie Vi.
You're sure going to be missed.[/align]

Koda our black bear hamster died today, after a short illness. She was 2.

2 years ago, my daughter's little hamster died, and my son decided he wanted to buy her another, so off we went to the pet store where she chose a cute little ball of black fur. A few days later, after being repeatedly bitten, she wanted to take her back and trade for a friendlier one. Good thing we didn't, as the next morning we had not 1 but 8 little hamsters. No wonder she was biting!

All the babies looked like little chipmunks, complete with black stripes down their backs. We found homes for most of them, and kept one for ourselves. Little Merrygold took after her mama, in that she loved to be held and cuddled. While we were away, Merrygold was billeted out to a friends, where she came home with a broken back. A trip to the vets (yeah, I know) showed she had "some" feeling in her feet, so there was a "small" chance she would regain use of her back legs. As the weeks wore on, we saw that she beat the odds, and while she doesn't have full use of the legs, she can move them enough to run around. Even a trip through the ducts and a fall downstairs into the furnace room didn't stop her.

Koda had no such mishaps, but she did escape her cage a few times, where she hid out downstairs, gathering crumbs and the food left out for her, stockpiling it where I couldn't quite reach her. Each time she eventually allowed herself to be caught and returned to the comfort and safety of her little home.

The last few days, Koda has gotten noticeably skinnier, even though she still stashed the carrots, apples and sprouts we gave her. One of her eyes was getting weepy, but she didn't seem...

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I had my cap and gown grad celebration tonight.

We arrived at 5:30 to don our gowns and arrange ourselves in alphabetical order. After marching in and taking our seats, we listened to a few speeches about how hard we worked and how we weathered all the ups and downs of a year of school. Before receiving our diplomas a couple of awards were presented... top clinical student, top academic and top overall, as well as the team leader award.

I was very proud - and very pleased - to receive the team leader award. This is the award we vote on ourselves (we called it the Miss Congeniality award), and it's for the person who is willing to help others, is mature, mentors and maintains a good sense of humour and calm. There were a few girls who could easily have won, which makes the award all the more special to me. I'm going to miss my classmates. We've all said well keep in touch, but I know how that goes - we'll maybe see each other at various conferences where we'll say we need to do this more often.

On the way to the ceremony, I got a call in response to a resume I'd faxed on Monday. It's for a p/t position, 2 days a week, with a mix of chairside assisting and front desk. I told the woman I couldn't work Saturdays, so I don't think I'll get this job. I'm fine with that, since it appears they're looking for a glorified receptionist, and I'll want a little more money than I think they'll be offering. Still, it was nice to get the call, and who knows - I could end up working there one day a week. (I think the job is in the same building where my dentist is)
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I had my first job interview this morning. I thought ti was going pretty well - the office manager showed me around the clinic and introduced me to everyone. I recognized one of the hygienists, but I can't for the life of me remember who she is - our boys apparently were in the same class and her daughter is also a gymnast. Beyond that.....

I talked about my school... where it is and how long the program has been offered. The school is fairly new - I'm in the 4th class, and the program was accredited shortly after graduating the 2nd class. This is quite an accomplishment for the head of the department who wrote the curriculum herself.

I asked and answered several questions, and from the look of the place - people, decor, type of practice - as well as the low staff turn-over, I think it's the sort of place I'd love to work in. Unfortunately, when I met the dentist, he asked me 2 questions... what sort of experience do you have? and then "so I guess you have no surgical experience then."

I don't think I'll be offered the job.

My next stop was to drop off a resume at another dental clinic closer to home. This place also looks very nice (what is it with dentists and boats, anyway?) The office manager asked about my certification, where I lived and how old my kids were. I didn't think they could ask that, but I answered anyway.

It was odd. She seemed surprised when I handed her my resume, even though the job has been advertised for a couple of weeks. They just got back from holidays apparently, so I got the impression that mine was the first resume they'd seen. So why did she point at a random stack of papers and say they'd call me after sorting through the other applications?


Job hunting sucks.
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I'm almost done school!

I went back to school last fall, joining a class where most of my classmates were born after I graduated high school. I was nervous about writing papers and studying for exams since it's been years since I've had to do either and I wasn't sure I remembered how. But they say there are advantages to being a mature student, and I quickly realized what those were - I am able to better manage my time, I take it more seriously, and face it... I don't have much of a life to interfere with my studies.

One of the biggest advantages I noticed was the fact I was actually learning the material, rather than merely memorizing enough to pass each exam. It all seemed to make sense to me... maybe because I have more life experiences to relate the information to. Pharmacology made sense, so too did anatomy and physiology. When we learned about the prenatal development of the face and tooth buds suddenly I understood what a branchial cleft fistula was.

I'm down to the final stages now. Even though we have one more out-patient clinic, I've completed all my required procedures, so I can relax and help those who still have one or two things left to do. I had my final quiz yesterday and two more exams next week - one easy, one more intense - then it's off for a 3 week full time practicum. After that, I'll have a short week back in the classroom and then I graduate on Friday the 13th of October.
I guess I'm officially a grown-up. ...

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